Steve Cuozzo still fears Lee Campbell and natural wines.

originally posted by SFJoe:
Steve Cuozzo is still mad at Patrick.
Click to expand...

"But what would the denizens of The Bowery across the street make of a $900 bottle of '89 Beaucastel?"

Short work, I say.

What an ill-tempered and pissy piece of writing. No unfiltered wines? Why is that? I do agree about the truffle oil rant, but that's old hat by now.

Mark Lipton
 
Dim Bulbs: A candle is meant to throw light. Many restaurants are as dark as pitch. So why do servers yank the candle from the center of the table where it might possibly do some good, and position it as far as possible from everyone, usually at the farthest edge where it might fall? And then barricade the poor little wax stump behind a wall of shakers and vases?
Click to expand...

Actually, some of the candles throw objectionable fumes and should be relegated "from the center of the table" or otherwise extinguished.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by MLipton:
No unfiltered wines? Why is that?
Click to expand...

the man lives in fear of teh lugey love. with good reason.

us less deserving folks may be more willing to take our chances.

fb.
 
Hm, would I rather have my critic gushing about hedonism or bitching about everything? Seems the easy ground is staked out now and all that's left is the middle.
 
In the end, I bet all his readers remember is "Patrick! Patrick! Patrick" (something something something).
 
originally posted by Michael Lewis:
His choice of the word "orderly" made me laugh because I thought of this bored.
Click to expand...

this is an interesting point, but only an oblique, self-referential way.

fb. (aka teh big up full on d.o.u.c.h.e.) [/quote]
 
That guy is amazing. He just sounds like a crank. Like, "What's all the hullabaloo about farm fresh ingredients? What, Friday's isn't good enough for you hipster liberal effetes?" He makes Ann Coulter sound open minded...

Though I do have to say, Lee Campbell isn't a particularly great somm.
 
I don't know, I thought his cranky ranty attitude was actually pretty Disorderly in its own way.

Although obviously the values and the aesthetics are 180 degrees opposite.
 
Though I do have to say, Lee Campbell isn't a particularly great somm.
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the wine list she's put together, you are dead wrong. As far as how competent her wine service on the floor might be I can't comment as I've never been to Reynard.
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
originally posted by Gene Vilensky:


Though I do have to say, Lee Campbell isn't a particularly great somm.
Click to expand...

What attributes do you value in a sommelier that Lee Campbell lacks?
Click to expand...

When you have a highly curated list of what are quite obscure wines, knowing about each wine on the list is vital. There was a bottle of Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, that tasted like those grapes which she claimed was Gamay and that the reason it tasted like those grapes is the terroir. I was amazed and when I looked up the wine at home, saw that it tasted like Carignan not because of the Ardeche terroir shining through the Gamay, but from the fact that it is actually Carignan.

There was another time where she didn't know much about a Jura wine on the list when I was trying to figure out if her description on the list was actually the cuvée I was thinking of. She had no clue.

Yes, her list is awesome. But not sure she knows a ton about the wines on it.
 
Someone creates not one (Reynard), but 5 (Reynard, Diner, Marlow and Sons, Romans and Achilles Heal) great lists, and because of 2 anecdotal stories you publicly name her as not 'a particularly great somm' and claim that she doesn't know 'a ton about the wines on' her critically lauded and commercially successful lists? I just want to make sure I understand this correctly.
 
I never argued her lists weren't great. I am a huge fan. But being a somm is more than creating great lists. It involves (and is mainly about) service on the floor. Her lists are fairly small, so it's not like it's that arduous to be very knowledgeable about all the wines. Furthermore, there is substantial overlap in the lists (not just in specific wines but also producers, importers, etc) so it's not like she's really creating five totally distinct lists. I have dealt with her three times at Reynard and two of those times, she made significant errors in my opinion. Should I run tests for statistical significance of Bernoulli trials before stating my opinion of her quality as a sommelier? Besides, it's not like this board is terribly public.

Geez.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top